Legend of Zelda: Falling of Darkness
by Alamorlan
Summary: For Malon, it all started when a mysteriously wounded stranger appears at the ranch. For the Stranger, it all started much sooner. What's this man doing at the ranch? Malon soon finds out! Will this lead to Hero/Farm-girl romance? You betcha! Rated M: For death, gore, language, and possible sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, guys. Nobody asked for this story at all, but I just wanted to write it. Here we go.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo or Legend of Zelda, but I wish I did.**

Malon Lon of Lon-Lon ranch was working out in the field as requested by Ingo, the ranch-hand-turned-owner. She absolutely loathed the tasks that Ingo set her out for each day. They were tasks that he should have been doing himself before the land was overtaken by Ganondorf's minions. Things such as fixing the chicken-coop and rebuilding the fences were at the height of those tasks, both of which she was attempting to perform within the hour. Unfortunately for her, she was unable to perform such a thing in her stature. Dead-tired was not exactly the best state to be working, which she had been doing all month. It had been a long seven years since Ganondorf had begun to take over Hyrule, and appointed Ingo as the ranch-head of Lon-Lon ranch.

The only solace she got from her long days of work were when Ganondorf himself came to the ranch to check up on the many food items that would ultimately end up on his table. The only reason for this was because Ingo locked her in the barn-house, as he considered her "unworthy" to be looked upon by "his lordship". Sometimes he would let her out immediately after Ganondorf left, but more often than not, he would keep her locked up for days or weeks at a time. During these times, he would attempt to assault her verbally, but that was only on the good days. She could handle that, of course. She had grown up around people who swore so much it would make a sailor blush, but that was about all she could defend herself from.

Often, Ingo would find himself on the right end of too many whiskey bottles, and then he became violent. Malon had a number of bruises on her arms and face due to his late night drinking-sprees. At night, usually while she was locked up, Ingo would find his way to her drunkenly and attempt to assault her physically, most of the time sexually. Malon could stave off the sexual assaults with a kick or a punch, which would enrage Ingo to the point of apathy. He would then proceed to backhand or even punch her multiple times over. If she resisted, she was bruised by his hands when he grabbed her wrists tightly. Fortunately for her, he could never disable her legs, or he would have had his way with her by then.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she looked over to the rotting bit of wall she was currently trying, and failing, to fix. Between the hammering of her work and her dying thoughts, she barely noticed the sound of hooves hitting dirt. Stopping her work and tilting her head toward the sound, she tried to recognize the location on the beating. It definitely wasn't coming from the pen, nor the stable. At that, she looked toward the last possible place it could be coming from; the gate.

Moving inward from the rolling terrain of Hyrule field, a silhouette lined with golden sunlight appeared from the large wooden pillars of the gates. It appeared to be a person of healthy stature riding a steed, a pristine equestrian mount from the highlands. The man's silhouette showed a hat of strange shape capping his head, and a loose tunic covering his torso. The horse trotted gracefully, but at a brisk pace, as if in peril. Malon noticed that there was something off about the silhouetted figure approaching. The man was bent over the horse at an odd angle, as if clutching a stomach wound of sorts. It was then that she noticed a large protrusion from the man's left side. An arrow was an accurate deduction, but crudely so. The arrow fired at the man was strange to Malon. It was definitely not a Hyrulean weapon of any sort. She labeled it a Gerudo weapon and left it at that; Malon was never a weapon's fanatic.

Eventually, the silhouette was cleared from Malon's eyesight, and the man was finally shown. It was a man that had barely reached the confines of adulthood, probably only slightly older than Malon herself. He had half-lidded cerulean-blue eyes and bloodstained golden blonde hair. The loose tunic was green, but only on the upper half, for the lower was stained by the man's own blood. His face was chiseled from stone, and his body seemed to be the same. There was a shield with the Hylean crest engraved into it hanging off of the man's back at an odd angle, and a holy looking blade hung loosely from his left hand. The man was a warrior, there was no doubt, but the likes of which Malon had never seen. The castle guards had no bragging rights versus this man. He was a survivor of many harsh battles, many of which he most likely won without a scratch, but this one had obviously been too much for the man to handle.

**Scene change**

Link had been having a horrible day to begin with, but the last thirty minutes were hell. After fighting a poe for nearly an hour due to its tricky personality, Link was ambushed by bandits. They had most likely witnessed his fight and figured that he would be too tired to fight back against their attack. Not only were they wrong, but they proceeded to have their asses handed to them in less than thirty seconds. No problem, right? Unfortunately for Link, he was wrong. Immediately after knocking out the last bandit, who was also the leader of the group, a gaggle of desert-raiders attacked him. Figuring it was due to his proximity to the Gerudo Desert, which he had fixed the bridge to earlier, he immediately began to retaliate while moving back inland.

This did well for the first few minutes, but the fact was that he was stuck a few moments later. After slowly picking off the raiders one-by-one until only two remained, he backed directly into an armed battalion of them. He had been out-planned by a group of rag-tag bandits. This broke into a ten minute brawl with over thirty bandits at once. Link had done similar things in the past, so he wasn't particularly worried. That was, until there were only five of the raiders left. He plotted his victory and escape quickly, so as to continue his quest, but underestimated his enemies.

This brought him to his current situation of fighting the same five mercenaries, all of whom seemed to have some sort of training. The first was trained in dual-wielding daggers, the second with a blade and shield, the third with a broadsword, the fourth with a longsword, and the fifth with a war-hammer. All of these weapons were strange objects to find in Hyrule, or even the Gerudo Desert. Aside from the casual spear or short-sword, Hyrulean and Gerudo weapons were simple knives or traditional curved swords. Link had little experience fighting enemies using these sorts of weapons, so he fought on instinct.

The dagger-user stepped forward with a spinning slash downward, which caused Link to back directly into the man with the shield. He sidestepped the inevitable blow in the back of the head by the shield and brought his arm around the man's extended one, breaking the elbow and crippling the man. This caused the dagger-user to slash again, this time upwards. Link brought himself around the shield-user and pushed him forward, stabbing the man with his comrade's dagger. He then spun and brought around the Master Sword, decapitating the dagger-user. This angered the man with the broadsword, who charged at the hero with gusto. The blonde parried the blow with the flat of his blade and brought his shield up into his opponent's face, breaking the man's nose. The man backed away for a moment the clutch his nose, opening his stomach to a piercing blow from the Master Sword, and killing the man on the spot. The bandits with the longsword and war-hammer attacked at the same time, making Link roll forward to dodge both blows at the same time. He then twisted and brought up his Hylean shield to block the back-slash of the longsword, which he was successful in doing.

The blade glanced off of the shield and dragged the man's sword arm with it, after which it lodged itself in the ground firmly, locking the man's fate. Link prepared his blow, but had to block a hit from the war-hammer, rattling his arm and numbing his hand. He brought his body around the man with the sword and sidestepped another crushing blow, causing the hammer to hit the sword-user and crush his skull, killing him instantly. The hero then closed in on the hammer-wielding man and slashed at his leg, causing him to drop to one knee. He then twirled his body around the man and grabbed the war-hammer, bringing the handle up to the man's neck. Realizing he was being choked, the man reached up and tried to pull the handle away from his neck, but failed and dropped his arms. Link failed to notice the man reaching for his belt, however, and continued to asphyxiate the man. Said man reached his pouch and pulled out an arrow-like projectile. He struggled to bring it up to bare, but successfully stabbed it backward through the air.

Link's eyes widened as he felt a sharp burning sensation in his lower side. His breath hitched and became shallow before he realized what was going on. After this, he became enraged and quickly locked the hammer sideways, snapping the bandit's neck. With his breath slowing and his vision going hazy, he pulled out the Ocarina of Time and fumbled to play Epona's song. When Epona arrived, he slowly climbed on her back and whispered in her ear before entering blissful unconsciousness.

**This is my first LoZ fanfic attempt at all, so it may suck a little. Please tell me if it does in the reviews. If you guys and girls have any suggestions besides pairings, throw them by me. They might end up in the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well guys, it's the second chapter in two days. I only got like 40 hits, but that's okay. Soon enough I shall have all of the hits! :-)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo or Legend of Zelda, but if I did, Link would have either Midna or Malon as a lover throughout the storyline.**

Malon had seen many horrifying sights since that fateful day seven or so years ago, but this was amongst the worst. This man looked like he had taken on an entire army by himself, and likely won. He was worse for wear than she had been after the worst lock-up session by Ingo. The arrow-like projectile protruding from his left side seemed to be in a very vital location. His left kidney, and even possibly his lung had been punctured by a steel-tipped short-spear. As the horse approached, Malon widened her eyes. This horse appeared to be her lost mare, Epona. That meant that whoever this man was, he had both saved and stolen Epona, and caused her to gain another beating from Ingo. Pushing back her angry thoughts, Malon briskly walked toward the fast-approaching mare.

As they reached each-other, Malon extended her arm and touched Epona's mane. This horse was obviously kept in pristine condition, far better in fact, than Ingo had kept her at the ranch. Saying a silent thank-you to the stranger with a glance, she looked over the man. He was definitely going to die if something didn't happen soon. Epona whinnied in Malon's ear, causing her to look back to the horse. Epona seemingly gestured to the man on top of her, which Malon thought was strange. Whoever this man was, he was on Epona's good-side, and that bought him points in Malon's book. Giving in to her horse's demands, Malon struggled to lift the heavier man off of the horse and drag him to the barn-house.

Once inside, she searched around for her stash of medical supplies. She had always kept a first-aid kit of some sort in the barn-house, due to the beatings from Ingo. It was a far stretch, being an advanced healing kit, but she never knew when Ingo would get even more violent than usual. Reaching the hay-stack in the corner of the barn-house, she reached into the hay and retrieved the kit. It would take a while, but this man would be alright. She got out a few red potions and many bandages, and set out to work.

**Third Person PoV switch**

With hazy eyes, Link awoke to a disorienting bright light. He looked around, but could see nothing besides a blurry after-image. Alarmed, he tried to sit up, only to have a sharp pain ring through his left side. He gave up his struggle and sat his head back on whatever he was laying on. He closed his eyes for a few moments and opened them again to see a much clearer image. The bright light above him was the sun shining through two wooden planks that were seemingly deteriorating. Wherever he was, the place needed to be repaired. He groaned and attempted to sit up again, this time more slowly. Grogginess left his mind as he heard the sharp sound of footsteps in the grass outside.

He reached for his sword, which he was delighted to see was still on his back, although his tunic had been rolled up to his chest. He failed to notice the bandages on his stomach, and pulled his blade. Seconds later, the door began to creak open, revealing the intruder to be a red-headed girl no older than Link in tattered clothing resembling a dress. Her face was adorned with freckles on her cheeks and a loose strand of hair down her right side. A few bruises could be seen on her left cheek and right eye. It almost angered him to see these, but he pushed those thoughts down. If Link wasn't concerned with his well-being, he would have found this girl very attractive. She looked terrified when she saw the blade and gave out a quick 'eep' sound, which Link would have found cute if he wasn't in survival mode.

Judging the girl as no threat, he replaced his blade in his sheathe, which calmed the girl down somewhat. Link sighed to himself and sat back down on his makeshift bedding area, which he now identified as hay.

**Third Person PoV switch**

Malon calmed herself down enough to look over the stranger who had just pulled a blade on her. For a quick moment, she found herself remembering the blonde-haired boy that had a fairy with him from her childhood, but immediately shook him from her thoughts. The boy had disappeared after he said he would fight the 'evil man' and she presumed him dead. A single tear streaked down her cheek from this thought, but the stranger didn't seem to notice. She couldn't even remember her fairy-boy's real name anymore. This thought caused another tear to form and drop, which the stranger actually noticed. She saw him raise an eyebrow and quickly got rid of her thoughts.

She looked at the man for a few more seconds before looking down at her feet. "Ummmm..." She said to the ground. She was struggling to find the words appropriate for the situation she was in, which is understandable. What do you say to a gorgeous stranger that you willingly saved from death? "I uh, I dressed your wound for you..." She stuttered out. This was met by a low 'Hn' from the stranger, causing her to frown. "What... What's your name?"

"Link." Replied the now identified stranger. It seemed that he didn't talk much.

"Uh... I'm Malon. I just... Saw you riding into the ranch on a horse and noticed you were wounded." Malon looked up at the man and then back down. She thought she saw a look of surprise and recognition on the man's face, but she shrugged it off as being from the lightning quick glance. "What were you doing with Epona anyway?" Malon tilted her head sideways in contemplation.

"I saved her from a ranch-hand." Came the man's reply. He really didn't talk much. This caused Malon to frown again.

"Uh... Are you hungry at all? You've been out for three days." This caused a shocked look to come upon the man's face.

"Three days?" This earned a nod from the red-haired beauty. "I've got to get back on the road! I still have to clear another temple!" And this earned a weird look from her. Realizing he had said too much, Link reeled his words back to his tongue. He really didn't need people questioning him about his duties at a time like this.

"Temples?" Malon raised her right eyebrow.

"Hn."

"You really don't talk much, do you?" Malon put her hands on her hips and quirked her head sideways again.

"Hn."

"That's it! I'm getting your food. Stay here and be all silent if you want!" The frustrated red-head said to the man as she walked out the door.

"Hn." Came Link's reply.

"Agh!"

**Only five minutes awake and Link's already frustrated Malon. Can't wait to see how this relationship turns out? Neither can I. Until next time! Live long and prosper... Oops, wrong series.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 is coming up now... I think... Whatever, here we go.**

**I apologize for misspelling the word 'Hylian'. It was spelled 'Hylean' in my previous chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda or Nintendo, but I do own a computer, and that is enough for now... For now...**

Later in the day, Link found himself extremely and seriously bored. He had sat in the barn-house of Lon-Lon ranch for hours with no knowledge as to why exactly that was. So far, the only things he could tell were that Malon was hard at work, and that Ingo and Talon were nowhere to be found. He hadn't released the fact that he knew the ranch already to Malon, so she was probably keeping him hidden from them. How does one explain why there is a drop-dead gorgeous blonde warrior with a holy blade in one's barn-house? One simply doesn't, and that's that. Unfortunately for Link, that meant that he was trapped until Malon willed him out, or one of the others found him; preferably the first one. The second option had major drawbacks, as Malon hadn't recognized him and the others probably wouldn't either. Talon and Ingo weren't exactly the most memorable people in Hyrule.

Sighing to himself, Link began cleaning the Master Sword... again. The legendary blade was shining like the sun already, but Link had nothing better to do. Suddenly, the sound of hard labor stopped and footsteps could be heard outside of the barn-house. Link could tell that the steps weren't Malon's simply due to the weight and hesitation of the steps. Whoever they were, they were drunk off their ass. The footsteps stopped about at the point at which the sounds of hammering and sawing had been. Link could tell that something was about to happen.

"You bitch!" A raspy voice yelled through the nighttime air. It was obviously a drunk version of Ingo. "You need to get this done today! You aren't working fast enough! His lordship will be here tomorrow!" After the last word of the sentence, a large slapping sound could be heard, followed briefly by a feminine screech. Link's blood began to boil at this and he prepared to barge out of the barn-house door, but quickly regained his bearings, knowing that this would compromise him. He, instead, decided to listen to how this played out. "Fuck it! I'll do it myself! Useless woman! Get in the barn; you aren't worthy of his lordship's gaze!"

A pair of troubled footsteps followed this exclamation bringing with it a pair of heavier footsteps. Link searched for a place to hide, but it was too late. Ingo's hand opened the door and he pushed Malon in through the opening. Fortunately, he only seemed interested in getting the girl into the building because the door closed immediately after that. Malon's tear-stained face shone through the moonlight and it was fixed pointedly on the ground, as if trying to hide it from her company.

"You know, you shouldn't let him treat you like that. Find a way to stand up to him..." Link worriedly said to the bruised beauty.

"It's not that s... simple. I've tried before... but he just keeps on hitting. If I talk back to him h... he slaps me. The o... only thing I can stop h... him from d... doing is having h... his w... way with m... me." She said through sob-filled breaths. At this, Link frowned and thought for a moment.

"Then you should leave this place. It's no good for you to stay here and be abused." This seemed to instantly anger the maiden, because her face hardened and she gave Link a pointed look.

"If I do that, then the animals here will suffer even more than they already have. Besides, if he catches me, I'll be beaten severely." Malon almost broke down in more sobs, but held herself together. It seemed that Ingo had a tight hold on the ranch and everything in it, which also meant that Talon was either somewhere else... or worse.

"I could help you with the work. Just tell Ingo that I walked into the ranch looking for a job and I have nowhere else to go. I'll even work for free." Link suggested. He didn't particularly enjoy the idea of working under the former ranch-hand, especially if it meant holding off on his quest. He wasn't about to just sit and allow Ingo to beat Malon, one of his best friends. If it meant taking some of the heat for Malon, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"But then you would be a subject to him, and that means doing anything he says. He'll probably force you to do most of the hard labor." Malon was intent on not allowing anyone else to suffer under Ingo's, and by proxy Ganondorf's, iron will. It seemed that the two were kindred spirits, but ultimately Link's will won out.

"That's no problem. I've done hard work all of my career, what's a little ranch-work?" Malon shook her head at the man's seemingly arrogant attitude, when in reality it was just a simple statement. Link had in fact done hard work, harder than everyone else alive combined, throughout his career.

"If you're sure about this, I guess we can tell him when I get out of here. Until then, let's get some rest. He won't be letting me out anytime soon, so we have to make sleeping arrangements." Malon hinted toward the haystack on which Link was sitting. "You take the hay, you've been wounded and you need good sleep. I'll take the ground."

"Oh no, you aren't making me take the comfort-zone just because I'm injured. You get the hay, I'll take the ground. I'm used to it anyway." Link retorted in a calm and comforting tone. It almost tempted Malon to accept, but she shook her head.

"Uh-uh, you get the hay, mister hero. I'm used to sleeping in here. Ingo forgot to take out the hay this time." This evolved into a ten-minute argument on who would get the hay, opposite what most would normally think.

Finally, Link gave in and accepted. "Alright, I'll sleep on the hay, but only because you insist." He said to the girl.

"Good boy."

**About an hour later**

Link turned his head to the beauty on the floor and shook his head. She had gone out like a light; obviously due to the over-extension of her work. He carefully got up and walked over to the ground where she was sleeping. "Stubborn as a mule." He whispered to himself as he shook his head. He slowly gathered her up in his arms bridal style and guided himself over to the haystack. Once there, he gently placed her lengthwise on the cushioned pile. He spent a moment looking at her peacefully resting face before turning around and walking back to the spot at which she rested before. Quietly grunting, he sat himself down and closed his eyes.

**And so the first remnants of Link/Malon fluff appear. She doesn't even know who he really is and they're already arguing like a married couple. Until next time guys, bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I'm back with more Link/Malon! My computer literally blew up over the summer, and I've been trying to fix that problem... Anyway, sorry for the extremely long wait. Feel free to commit homicide against myself at any time. I'll be back in an hour anyway.**

**Disclaimer: Me, own The Legend of Zelda? Obviously you overestimate my finances.**

The Next Day:

Malon opened her eyes to a deteriorating roof made of wood, with two boards missing in the center. For a moment she was extremely confused, until she remembered the events of the previous day. This cleared her head a bit, but then she was even more confused when she felt the soft material underneath her body. She hadn't fallen asleep on the hay-stack, and this definitely wasn't the position she had fallen asleep in earlier. As the early morning confusion cleared from her mind, she started hearing the sounds of the early morning ranch. There were cuckoos clucking outside, a cow or two mooing, and... yells coming from the other side of her room? Malon looked over to the wall to her left, where she found a green-clad fellow swinging about a holy-looking sword in one hand, and a shield in the other. The memories finally clicked back into place for Malon, and she was instantly annoyed.

"I thought I told you to sleep on the hay, fairy-... Uhhh... M-mister h-hero." Malon "knew" that this man wasn't her fairy-boy, but Link reminded her of him so much that she let that slip. Link pretended not to notice Malon's predicament, but he turned around when he noticed the sudden reign of silence. Malon had a single tear trailing down her cheek as the memories of her childhood friend filed through her thoughts.

"Hmm? Malon, you're crying." Link looked at the farm-girl in confusion for a moment before walking up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Malon, what's wrong?" Link, of course, knew what was wrong, but if she knew who he was, it would just cause trouble. Malon took the time to gather her wits, and looked up at Link.

"You remind m-me of an old friend... He died s-seven years a-ago fighting an evil man." Malon was not normally one to cry, but death was a touchy subject ever since she lost her mother, and her fairy-boy was her first childhood friend, and she had a slight crush on him for the short time that they knew each-other. "You r-remind me of fairy-boy..." Malon actually sobbed at this point, causing Link's hardened heart to break. Of course, those seven years of hardship had gone by in a flash for him, as he was in stasis, but Malon had to endure the entire thing herself. He had to remind himself that even though he had fought armies, lost friends, and killed many times, others had to endure seven years of torture waiting for him to awaken and save the world.

Link put his brain to use instantly and contemplated telling Malon of his place, and as he thought it over, he decided quickly; Link gave up quickly. "Malon, you obviously haven't recognized me... I'm sorry for disappearing." Malon stared at Link confusedly through teary eyes. She couldn't contemplate exactly what the blonde was trying to say to her, but the gears were turning in her head.

"W-what do you mean, L-Link? I don't understand..." Malon wracked her mind for the answer to her own question.

"Malon, I AM fairy-boy. See?" With this, Link raised his Kokiri-cap, revealing a floating blue annoyance, who instantly yelled at the author for calling her names. Malon stared at the blue ball of light for a few seconds before looking at Link, and then back at the fairy. When the gears finally finished matching up in her head, Malon did two things. First, she widened her eyes to the size of dinner plates, then, she slapped Link with an open hand. Link's head didn't move an inch, causing Malon to wonder just what her fairy-boy had been through.

Moving his hand up to his face, Link rubbed the barely-hurting (physically at least) slap-mark tenderly. "What was that for?" He gave Malon a strange look, which spelled out confusion perfectly. To be honest, Malon herself didn't really know why she slapped him. She had dreamed many times of his return, and how she'd tackle and hug him with all of her might, and then they would play together like children, for old-time's sake. Malon let a few more tears spill from her eyes before glaring up at Link.

"Seven years! You've left me as the saddest, most miserable girl in the world for seven years thinking you were dead! And then you come into the ranch half-dead and don't even tell me who you are after I fix you up! Why...?" Malon drew herself into another tearful sob, which broke the pieces of Link's heart into even smaller pieces. (He only has 3 hearts left!)

"Malon, I... I went to fight Ganon in Castle-town that day, but..." With that, he retold the tale of the time-process, having to console Malon a few times. The girl didn't exactly believe him at first, but it started to make sense when he went into detail. After the explanation, Malon stood idle for a few moments, causing Link to think something was wrong. "Malon, I'm really sorry that I couldn't be here for those seven years, if I had, Ingo... OOMPH!" Link was instantly shut up when Malon tackled him in an extremely tight, but surprisingly gentle hug, taking them both to the ground. The blonde looked down at Malon as soon as he hit the ground, and noticed that she was crying into his chest, but he could tell that these were tears of joy.

"He's back! My fairy-boy is back!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I'm back with another short chapter of Link/Malon. I'm sorry I can't write longer chapters, but I'm hard-pressed on time... I have the entire 750,000 word story written ON PAPER in my dorm though.**

**Nope... I don't own Zelda, but if I did, you'd be the first to know.**

The rest of the day passed by quickly for the two young-adults, as they told stories of their long-missed childhoods, and Link shared a few about his travels. These stories worried Malon intensely, judging by the look on her face when she heard of some of the things Link had been through, but all-in-all, she was impressed at the things Link had done. Not everyone defeats a dragon at the peak of a volcanic mountain, or deals with the giant-spider like Gohma, or goes through armies of bandits with only a sword and a broken-shield. Malon wondered intensely if she herself could learn to wield a blade, and when she voiced her thoughts to Link, he said he would teach her if the opportunity came up.

"I'll teach you, but only if time permits." Link stated. This made Malon both jump for joy inwardly, and pout visibly. "What, I've got a cluttered schedule already! I have a water-temple to go through... And there are many monsters and such that need to be dealt with in the surviving villages. Those wolfos don't kill themselves, you know! And the stalchildren..." Link began to ramble in a stressed-out manner, causing Malon to giggle a bit.

"Silly! You don't have to teach me right now! I'll wait until you can pick your sword up for things other than monsters..." Malon winked at the end of this statement, but was surprised when Link didn't blush. He simply looked at her with a stoic expression. Malon was extremely confused at his seemingly impermeable mental structure.

"If you're wondering, you're not the first to make innuendos. I've been offered THAT for saving children, making deliveries, helping someone, or even something as simple as fetching someone's friend from the other side of town." Link looked at her with a continuously stoic face for a few moments until Malon exploded with rage.

"YOU'D BETTER NOT HAVE ACCEPTED! SO HELP ME GODDESSES, LINK! IF YOU SO MUCH AS HINTED AT ACCEPTING SUCH AN OFFER, I'LL SKIN, TAN, AND SEW YOUR HIDE MYSELF!" Link scratched the back of his head and looked at her with a confused face.

"I've never asked for anything from those that I've helped. Those that offered me anything other than shelter or a few rupies I've always helped for free. You should know from how I helped out here back when we were kids." Malon calmed herself down and blushed inwardly at the fact that she lost her cool. She had known that Link would never do anything like THAT to any woman, regardless of their own self-respect level. "Besides, why would you be worried about that anyway?" Link continued absentmindedly.

At this, Malon blushed visibly. She admitted to herself that she used to have a crush on the old fairy-boy, but this one was the epitome of male perfection. While he was in his thinking state, she took the time to admire his body against the barn's wooden backdrop. What she saw, since he had taken his tunic off to practice swordplay without the extra weight and sweat, made her blush even further, which she was sure was impossible.

Link was 4 or 5 inches taller than herself, and had somewhat long blonde hair, with soul-gazing blue eyes and a chiseled face. His jaw and neck were strong and looked like they were carved out of stone. He hadn't the slightest sign of a blemish or boil on his head or neck, and his features were perfectly defined and placed. He had pectoral muscles that looked as if they could kill an army of bandits with a single twitch, but they weren't overly muscled, just perfect. His abs were made of iron, and it looked like he could stop a caravan with them. His legs were perfectly defined through his tights, and they looked like they could make a kick that could shatter Ganondorf's dark-armor in a single blow. When Malon looked at his body as a whole, and then considered that he had all of them and still managed to keep a genius-like mind, it made her slightly... Malon couldn't think of the word, but it was best described as "possessive".

Her mind went into overdrive as the thoughts of what he could do with that body crashed into her mind, and then came the thoughts of what SHE could do with that body... She was a young-adult girl, and she was just as interested in THAT, as any girl her age. She began to feel uncomfortable with her own thoughts, which led to thoughts of the man with anyone other than herself. At these thoughts, she sneered; she thought that a noble hero such as the Hero of Time would get the princess, or at least a noble-woman.

She wouldn't admit that she was jealous of any princess or noble-woman that would receive this man in the future, she just couldn't... at first. After thinking, she finally caved into her thoughts. Idle jealous thoughts roamed her brain simultaneously and wracked her mind uneasily. While she was normally a level-headed girl, this man had been her first ever real friend, and he was the sweetest man that would ever live. These thoughts almost made her cry. She decided she would have her fairy-boy all to herself again, even if she only just met him again a few days before...

And goddesses damn any monsters (or women) that would try to take her fairy-boy away.

**Aaaaand... There it is. No, Malon is not going crazy. She is in all senses, a tom-boy. She is extremely determined with anything she does, and Link just so happens to be one of the things she wants to do! ;D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, all! I'm back again. I still have no idea why I'm doing this... Anyway, yup... Chapter whatchamacallit here...**

**Disclaimer: Nope.**

Link looked at the emotions playing across Malon's face with extreme confusion. He hadn't said anything that would make her angry, had he? He didn't know. In the terms of romance and love, he was still as dense as a neutron-star. Of course, the blonde had had a small crush on Malon back when they were kids, as she was a girl that wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and that hair... Link tore himself from those thoughts as he remembered what he had to do, and why a girl wasn't the best thing to be thinking about at the moment. Besides, he'd had a crush on the Princess herself as soon as he'd seen her. He'd never felt those emotions in the Kokiri Forest before, so he had no idea how to manage them. He ended up in a bind with his thoughts again as he looked Malon up and down.

She wasn't an average looking girl by any means, Link mused. She had perfect reddish hair that went down to her lower-back and curled cutely at the bottom, and the most adorable freckles on her cheeks. Link decided that he sounded a bit mushy there, but continued on to stare at her. He noted her slightly tanned neck, with a necklace that her mother had left for her trailing down to the V in her dress. Her curves, which he decided were perfect for a ranch-girl, were accented nicely by her farm-style dress, and her hips were perfectly proportioned in comparison to the rest of her body. She had the slender build that any man would want to see everyday, but Link had an idea that most of the land's men ignored Malon for the more well endowed and proper women. Not that Link thought Malon wasn't proper enough, as he wasn't exactly the most high-class of men.

Link then ran through her personality. She was a caring individual, he decided, and she liked to help out with things, as was her nature. She did hard work all day without complaining, and she knew her way around a conversation... Most of the time. Her slightly tom-boyish attitude complimented his adventurous one almost perfectly, and he knew that had she the experience and weapons, she might make a good fighter. These all put her higher up in Link's mind, as body didn't matter nearly as much as mind in his eyes. It was then that Link decided that he might, in the deepest corners of his mind, far away from all of the thoughts of death and fighting, still have a small bit of feeling for the girl in-front of him. There was simply no other girl in Hyrule like her.

And so, Link decided that whether or not she was allowed to travel with him, and be trained by him in the way of the warrior, he would at least lend her his feelings, so that she wasn't all alone with Ingo of all people. He would, if she would let him, worm his way into her heart bit by bit and add love to the long list of emotions that played across her face, no matter how long it took.

If only he could have heard the thoughts that the girl was having, he mused to himself.

**With Malon, same place**

At about this point in time, Malon had finished her determined statement and decided to add love to the long list of emotions that could play across Link's face. If only she could know that he was having similar thoughts at the moment. Speaking of that moment, they both ended up being thrown out of their thoughts at the same time, when they noticed that they were absently staring at each-other, not without a small amount of determination. Link began to whistle to himself as he turned his head, and Malon blushed a great crimson red.

They were both shocked out of their reverie when they heard a door slam somewhere else on the ranch, and only Link heard the footsteps that approached with his well-trained ears. He turned his head to the barn-door in time to watch it slowly creek open, revealing an extremely pale hand. Link looked back and forth between Malon and the door in desperation, but it was too late. The door finished its rotation, and a drunk Ingo stepped into the barn. The man was grumbling at his feet, and drunk off of his ass.

Ingo looked up at the red-haired girl, and then at Link, and then back at the girl. He was instantly angered at the sight of Link's shirtless self being anywhere near Malon, and he sneered at her. "Whoring yourself out to another boy, slut? What're you paying him? It's coming out of my wallet, and that makes me angry. You're using MY money, aren't you?" This string of slurred words stunned Malon, and angered Link to his core. Link, at that moment would have loved for Ingo to try to lay a hand on either of them. His wish was granted, as Ingo stumbled up to Malon and raised his hand to back-hand her. He swung drunkenly, with a blow that would have knocked her on her back. Malon closed her eyes, waiting for her newest bruise, but bother her and Ingo were surprised when the sound of flesh hitting flesh never came.

"I recommend that you leave your filthy hands off of her if you know what's good for you." Link's low growling voice resounded through the barn-house. "Unless you want to lose that arm of yours, you'll stay away from her." Ingo looked wide-eyed at the hero, and then back at his hand, and back at Link, and growled at the blonde.

"This doesn't involve you, boy. Get back up on whatever you came in on and leave. You ain't gettin' your money." Link sneered back at the man and gazed hard into his eyes. He'd be damned if he left Malon here to deal with this drunkard.

"I don't want your money, or Malon's virginity; I came here because I want a job. I'll be working here for free, so long as you leave Malon here alone." Malon gawked at Link, along with Ingo, who grew money-bags in his thoughts.

"Twice the work for free, eh? Put yer shirt on. Ya start in an hour." At this, he looked at Malon and glared at her. "Yer off the hook for now. S'long as the boy lives up to his deal." He then made his way out of the barn, stumbling all the way.

Link looked at Malon and raised an eyebrow. She looked at him for another few seconds before making her way up to him and hugging him tightly. While, this confused Link entirely, as he had said that he would work for Ingo before, it embarrassed Malon completely. It took all of about three seconds for her to notice that she was hugging the hero in his shirtless state, which made her stiffen up, tightening the embrace even further.

"Malon?" Link's voice woke her up from her embarrassed shock, and made her blush.

"Hmm?" She hummed after she let go of Link, a slight red hue left on her freckled cheeks.

"What the hell did I just get myself into?"

**And, we're done.**


End file.
